Doctors Insist They Won't Dump Patients

Dozens of South Florida doctors will soon stop seeing patients in hospitals. Dozens no longer see patients in emergency rooms. Others stopped performing minor surgeries. Others see patients only in emergencies.

It's not a strike, physicians insist, it's more like a slowly building walkout to show that the spiraling cost of medical malpractice insurance is having a real effect on real doctors -- and real patients -- and that the Legislature had better do something.

So far, there's no crisis from the walkout, doctors and hospital administrators said on Wednesday. But with more doctors deciding this week to cut back on patient care, hospitals are starting to feel a strain. They fear that the absence of certain specialists will render them unable to handle certain patients and will force them to transfer patients to other facilities.

"The question is, how many other guys will do this? That will tell," said Phil Robinson, chief executive of JFK Medical Center in Atlantis. "We're not sure how it will go at this point."

On Tuesday, the 51 doctors in the Palm Beach County's largest physician group said they were asking JFK and five other hospitals for leaves of absence to stop seeing hospitalized patients, a part of their practices that raises the risk of lawsuits and raises the cost of insurance.

The group, Medical Specialists of the Palm Beaches, will still see patients in the office. But they will find other doctors to see patients who become sick enough to be hospitalized, said Dr. William Ludwig, president of the group.

"We are not going to abandon any patients," Ludwig said. "We feel we have to do something. The message doesn't seem to be getting through to the politicians."

Seven surgeons also applied for leave, saying that without the 51 specialists behind them, they would perform only emergency surgeries. Patients needing elective procedures such as chronic hernia repairs and lingering gall bladder pain would have to find other doctors or wait.

"It may be uncomfortable for them, this is true, but they won't be any more uncomfortable than they have been for two, three, four months with their condition," said Dr. Jack Zeltzer, a senior surgeon in the Palm Beach Surgical Group.

The doctors said they will use their newly freed time to lobby state legislators.

The Legislature divided sharply and then stalemated over the doctors' package of reforms, including a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering awards in malpractice lawsuits. Gov. Jeb Bush called a special session on June 16 to tackle the issue.

Trial lawyers call doctors irresponsible for dropping patients over a political issue. They argue that insurers are to blame for the spiraling rates and say the doctors' reforms will not lower rates.

Either way, South Florida doctors are trying to lower their risk of being sued. Some stopped seeing complicated cases. Some stopped seeing patients in ERs, forcing hospitals to scramble to find a specialist or to transfer patients.

At North Ridge Medical Center in Oakland Park, the only two surgery groups have applied for leaves of absence, said 20-year surgeon Joseph Casey.

"I don't know anyone who isn't making some alteration in the way they practice," Casey said.

In Broward, so far only small, scattered groups of doctors in Broward County are going on leave. Some have asked the county medical association to lead an organized walkout, but the Florida Medical Association has advised against it on legal grounds.

Judging from a similar walkout by 100 Jacksonville doctors over the past six weeks, the affect probably will not be great in this region, said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association. Over three weeks, hospitals had to transfer only 120 patients because of doctor shortages, she said.

"Obviously, it's going to be inconvenient for those patients, but not many are affected," Quick said.

Health Writer Nancy McVicar contributed to this report.

Bob LaMendola can be reached at blamendola@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4526.